PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY WITHIN AND AMONG GENOTYPES OF ROSA CENTIFOLIA FROM PAKISTAN AND THE USA

Rosa centifolia is famous as a new strain in Pakistan for producing highly fragrant flowers around the year even at high temperatures. It is used to extract oil. Eight landraces of Rosa centifolia were selected from eight districts of Punjab, Pakistan to evaluate their morphological variations. Eight varieties of Rosa centifolia from USA were also used to evaluate their phenotypic diversity by using 24 morphological parameters. In Pakistani landraces, maximum phenotypic variation was observed between Sargodha and Sheikhupura landraces, while maximum similarity was found among the Pattoki and Faisalabad landraces. For the American varieties, the highest similarity was found among Fantin-Latour and Rosa de Meaux and the least similarity among Cabbage rose 2 and Paul Ricault varieties. Leaf size, leaf green color at first flowering, and undulation of leaf margins were positively correlated with number of petals per flower, flower diameter, and flower fragrance in Pakistani landraces. However, in the USA genotypes, only undulation of leaf margins showed negative association with flower fragrance.